She Did It Anyway! Reactions I Got About Homemade Dog Food…

The moment I decided that I wanted to make dog food myself I started reading several books and articles. I also decided to get the opinion of my vet and his colleagues which to my great astonishment where skeptical and even discouraging. None of the three vets was glad that I wanted to change the diet of my dog and none of them said something positive about homemade dog food.

“Homemade dog food and BARF are unhealthy for dogs and in recent years we see lots of health deficiencies in dogs due to these trends”

I can imagine that dogs can get health deficiencies if the food is not complete and lacks certain nutrients. However, instead of discouraging people to make dog food themselves vets should support us so that the food will be of high quality. Something I find quite irritating though is when vets automatically question homemade dog food and see it as the cause of an illness or whatsoever. When my dog got dry kibble no vet would question my choice or say that I should improve his diet because his health will benefit from it. The moment I gave homemade dog food they get suspicious about the quality and believe that the food must be the cause for an illness.

I also don’t get the logic of people who believe that dry kibble which is a chemical mass production including meat and vegetable leftovers is healthier than organic meat and fresh fruits and vegetables supplemented with the needed minerals, oils and vitamins. Why would we feed our dogs the very same food day after day after day?? Would you enjoy eating the same canned or processed food day after day? I doubt that! Variation of fresh, raw products makes as happy and healthy. Same for our dogs.

“Why would you want to change his diet and go through all the trouble of making dog food? Everything is going fine isn’t it?”

Instead of encouraging me the vets pointed out all the trouble I will get in when making the food myself. Although my dog was doing fine on the dry kibble I believed that there was room for improvement. My dog struggles with mite and flea allergies and has lived the majority of his life on the streets and later on in an animal rescue shelter. I believed that he really could need the extra boost of healthy food and since I enjoy spending time with my dog and learning new dog related things I don’t perceive making his food as a burden.

“You should at least send the food to a lab and get it examined”

Although I appreciate the offer to get the food tested I find the suggestion a bit too much. I mean, who cares what I am eating? Who cares what parents feed their children?? No one! Exactly. But all of the sudden if you decide to make some dog food it seems to be rocket science. Of course you need to do some research and seek guidance in books or somewhere else but if we manage to feed ourselves we certainly should be able to do so for our dogs. There is no right way of feeding a dog same as with humans. As long as you know what you are doing everything should be fine.

After receiving all these discouraging remarks (and more) I honestly felt a bit doubtful about the whole idea but in the end decided to stick to my gut feeling. Now, more than a month later I am so glad that I did it and if you would ask Bobby he definitely will agree. Although he liked his (high quality and expensive) dry kibble he sometimes wasn’t that enthusiastic and took his time to eat it. He seemed to be bored of the taste or the texture or maybe both. He often had a bad breath, drank lots of water and pooped three times a day (rather big ones for his size). Now after eating my homemade dog food he always is super excited to eat his food, drinks significantly less water (which is makes sense) and almost never has a bad breath (despite when he is granting himself some sheep shit). His fur is softer and more shiny and his body feels less wobbly but stronger. He poops 1 or 2 times a day. His poo does not only look better (not that poo can look good but compared to his previous poo) and it smells less! I would encourage everybody who really wants to make dog food at home to do the research, get some tips and just do it. Don’t get discouraged but conservative vets but try to find people that know much about food and that can help you in this journey.